Paul Wenz Society's Writers-in-Residence

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PAUL WENZ SOCIETY WRITERS-IN-RESIDENCE ANNOUNCED FOR 2009
posted 25 August 2008

Two regionally-based authors, one from France and the other from Australia, will swap places in 2009 as part of a unique cultural exchange to build upon the literary legacy left by French-Australian writer Paul Wenz, President of the recently incorporated Paul Wenz Society, Dr Maurice Blackman, announced today.

Photo: Australian Patron of the Paul Wenz Society, Janet Moxey (left), who now lives on Nanima, the property Paul and Hettie Wenz bought in 1898, with the Society's Secretary, Sabine Pierard (centre), and Australian writer Merrill Findlay (right), one of the inaugural PWS writers-in-residence, with a portrait of Paul Wenz at the Forbes Historical Society's Museum, 23 August 2008.
Photo by Jane Bennie

The selected writers are French novelist and essayist Frederic Chef, from Reims, capital of the Champagne-Ardenne region of France where Wenz was born, and Australian novelist and essayist Merrill Findlay who is based in Forbes, the small Australian town in central New South Wales where Wenz died and is buried. Their month-long residences will coincide with the 140th anniversary of Wenz’s birth in 1869, and the 70th anniversary of his death in 1939. Read more >> [Press release: pdf 17kb]

NEWS FLASH: Frederick Chef has regretfully withdrawn from this project because of other commitments. The Wenz Society is therefore now able to offer a month long residency in regional Australia to another writer from the Champagne-Ardenne region of France. For more information, or to apply for this residency, please email Maurice Blackman, PWS President.

Press coverage:
French Connection, Forbes Advocate, 28 August, 2008 >>
PhD Student wins French residency, Faculty of Design & Creative Practice, University of Canberra >>
Artspeak, Arts in Brief, September 2008, p. 5 >>

Please note: merrillfindlay.com provides online space for the Paul Wenz Society as an interim measure while members are developing their own dedicated PWS web site.

Page created 25 August 2008; last revised 28 September 2008.

NEW! French writer required for unique cultural exchange in 2009
posted 28 Sept, 2008

The Paul Wenz Society is now seeking a professional French writer based in Reims to spend a month as writer-in-residence in the Shire of Forbes, central New South Wales, to explore the literary legacy left by French-Australian writer Paul Wenz.

For more information, or to apply for this residency, please contact Dr Maurice Blackman, President of the Paul Wenz Society.